As is known, especially in the health- and beauty-care sectors, there is the problem of neutralizing and eliminating disposable surgical medical instruments such as blades, scalpels, needles, pointed instruments and the like which are normally used in medical, dental or beauty-care treatments or for epidermal use and which, during their use, have been in contact with the patient's blood. In order to avoid risks of contagion or cross-contamination, for medical and paramedical personnel and for anyone who may come into contact with the used instruments, it is necessary to neutralize and destroy these instruments.
Devices which melt metallic surgical instruments by means of the flow of electric current of appropriate intensity have already been marketed for performing this operation.
Known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,178 is an apparatus for destroying syringe needles comprising a housing having an orifice for the insertion of needles, crimping means for crimping syringe needles to substantially seal the syringe and means for establishing an electric current through the needles.
However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,178 shows an apparatus having an orifice for the insertion of only needles and moreover it is necessary to carry out some manual operations in order to ensure the performance of the method of destruction. Therefore the apparatus is not useful for destroying scalpels and moreover, requires that an operator performs the operations manually until the needles are destroyed.
Also known from GB-A-2 211 420 is an electric needle destroyer, which is able to destroy needles by means of the flow of electric current. Even the apparatus herein described requires manual interventions until the needles are completely destroyed.
In known devices, in practice, it is necessary to insert the instrument to be destroyed into the device while continuing to apply a slight pressure until the instrument is completely destroyed.
This operation is a source of considerable dangers, since it not possible to assuredly prevent accidental contact with the instrument during the destruction operation, producing lesions with the possibility of contagion; furthermore, the instrument to be destroyed may inadvertently be removed from the device before it is completely destroyed, thus eliminating certainty in the neutralization of the potential dangers deriving from the instrument.
This is one of the most negative aspects of known devices, since the instrument to be destroyed, for example a needle, can be removed at the operator's discretion in any moment of the cycle, with a consequent difference in the length of the residual needle stump, which can still represent a considerable danger.